Jai Sriman
Narayana !!
Jaya Jaya
Sankara Hara Hara Sankara !!
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-shaivam.org
Mathavam
Seithu Then Thisai Vazhthidath
Theethilla
Thiruthondathokai Thara
Pothuvar
Avarmel Manam Pokkida
Kathal
Matharumkatchiyil Kanninar
Thiru Sundaramurthy
Nayanar/Nambiyarurar was born to devout Brahmin couple Thiru Chadaiya Nayanar
and Isai Gnani Ammayar, who were staunch devotees of Lord Shiva. Thirunavalur was the birth place of Thiru
Sundaramurthy Nayanar. Thiru Chadaiya
Nayanar was a Vedic Brahmin and the couple was led a life of an ascetic. They
untiringly served Lord Thirunavaleswarar with his consort Goddess Sri Manonmani
Thayar in Thirunavalur. The studious little Nambiyarurar learnt Veda Sastras
from his father. Once, King
Narasingamunairayar was happened to see charismatic little Nambiyarurar playing
on the street. The King was fascinated
at the beauty of the little child; he approached Nambiyarurar’s
parents and revealed his desire to adopt the child. His parents were accepted the proposal of the
King without any uncertainty, they wholeheartedly agreed to send the child
Nambiyarurar with the King. Afterwards,
Nambiyarurar was grown up in a royal environment and became a heir to the throne
of King Narasingamunairayar.
The life of
Thiru Narasingamunairayar:
In due course of time,
marriage of Nambiyarurar was arranged with Chadangaviyar. On the day of marriage Nambiyaruar was attractively clothed in majestic wedding attire, took
procession of the bride-groom. While the
marriage ceremony was taking place there appeared an old Brahmin with holy ashes
smeared all over the body seized everyone’s attention. He declared that Nambiyarurar has to settle
an old account which was owed by his forefathers. In addition to this, he
proclaimed publicly that Nambiyarurar was his slave. Nambiayarurar was annoyed at the statement of
the old Brahmin. There were heated
arguments followed between them.
Irritatingly, Sundarar verbally abused the old Brahmin calling him ‘Pitha’.
The old man ordered to put hold
of the wedding for the time being and instructed Nambiyarurar to follow him.
Nambiyarurar followed the old Brahmin amicably. The
marriage ambiance turned into place of bereavement, Chadangaviyar attained the
Abode of Lord Shiva due to the painful separation from Nambiyarurar.
Nambiyarurar appeared
before the court of assembly at Thiruvennainallur due to the plea old
Brahmin. The debate on the case was
progressed; the old Brahmin meticulously revealed a bundle of proof written in
palm leaves. In that it was clearly
mentioned by his grandfather that Arurar of Navalur were destined to serve the
Lord of Thiruvennainallur as his slave.
The verdict was followed on the basis of the proof produced; Nambiyarurar
should serve the old Brahmin as his slave.
Nambiyarurar
whole-heartedly followed the old Brahmin to Thiruvarutturai. The old Brahmin gracefully marched towards
the sanctum sanctorum of Thiruvennainallur Temple and vanished. Nambiyarurar/Thiru Sundaramurthy Nayanar was
shocked at this sight. Instantaneously
there appeared Lord Shiva on his celestial vehicle and instructed Sundarar to
sing praising his glories. Sundarar
waveringly disclosed his helplessness, he awfully felt guilty of addressing the
old Brahmin as ‘Pitha’ without knowing his real identity. The most compassionate Lord Shiva
mischievously instructed Sundarar to sing verses begin with ‘Pitha
Piraisoodi’.
Sundarar led his
spiritual journey to Thiruthuraiyur and headed to Thiruvadhikai. His immense devotion and respect towards
Thirunavukkarasar made him put a sudden halt to his journey on the banks of the
river Pennai. On that night he stayed in
a hermitage located in a remote area, in the middle of the night he
realized somebody’s feet on his head. He
got up and found a Brahmin sleeping carelessly bumped his legs on him. He
informed the Brahmin to keep away his legs out of reach and went to sleep but
the same thing was repeated. Sundarar
was disturbed and irritatingly enquired the identity of the old man, instantly
the old Brahmin disappeared and a mysterious voice followed. Sundarar realized his folly and solemnly sung
praising the Lord. Sundarar visited many
sacred temples of Lord Shiva through the length and breadth of Tamil Nadu. During his spiritual tour, Sundarar met Thiru
Gnana Sambandhar and Appar, enjoyed in their blissful company.
Life of
Thiru Gnana Sambandhar :
Life of
Thirunavukkarasar/Appar:
After visiting many
sacred places of Lord Shive, Sundarar arrived at Thirunavalur. He was received by a huge crowd of Brahmins
with great reverence. While he was
immersed at the divine bliss of Lord at Thirumulattanam, Lord himself pronounced
Sundarar as ‘Thambiran Thozhar’ (Friend of Lord of Lords).
Sundarar met his soul
mate Paravai Nachiyar in the temple at Thiruvarur. Immediately he had fallen in love with her
and same with Paravai Nachiyar too.
Sundarar was attracted towards the loveliness and devotion of Paravai
Nachiyar. He sincerely prayed to Lord to
get her married. Eventually, Sundarar
married to Paravai Nachiyar with the blessings of Lord. Sundarar composed many sacred verses praising
the glories of Lord as his intimate friend and his devotees in his famous
compositions Thirupattu & Thiru Thondar Thokai.
In the meantime, Sundarar
was received invitation from Thiru Kotpuliyar to visit
Thirunattiyathankudi. He was pleased at
the generosity of Thiru Kotpuliyar.
Thiru Kotupliyar had lot of admiration and respect towards Sundarar, he
requested Sundarar to marry his two daughters Vanappakai and Chingadi. Sundarar gracefully refused the marriage
proposal and accepted them as his daughters.
Sundarar returned to Thiruvarur and realized that Paravai Nachiyar was in
need of money to contribute for Panguni Uthiram Utsavam. Sundarar had nothing to serve for Paravai
Nachiyars needs. He desperately left to
Thiruppukalur, he sang praising the glories of Lord. Due to the fatigue and hunger he was fallen
asleep within the temple premise keeping a few blocks of bricks as pillow under
his head. On the next day, he woke up
and astounded to see that all the blocks of bricks under his head were turned
into gold. Sundarar happily handed the
gold to Paravai Nachiyar and instructed her to utilize for the festival.
The Life of
Kotpuliyar Nayanar :
Sundarar
visited several sacred shrines of Lord Shiva and sang praising the glories of
Lord. In fact, Lord was enthusiastically
looking forward for Sundarar’s passionate method of worship. Whenever Sundarar was in need of money, he
graciously approached Lord and revealed his desire. And the wealth collected were utilized wisely
either for serving the devotees of Lord or for the welfare of temples. Throughout his spiritual journey, Lord was
followed him as shadow and served his need.
There were several mysterious incidents took place to confirm the
perpetual presence of Lord Shiva in his life.
At
Thiruvotriyur Sundarar met with his another soul mate Changiliyar. She was a passionate devote of Lord, she
tirelessly served Lord with beautiful garlands made out of alluring fresh
flowers of various fragrances. She met
Sundarar at the temple and they both were fallen in love at first sight. Changili Nachiyar was leading a life of an
ascetic at a young age. Her parents
were searching for an appropriate bride-groom for long time, every time after
seeing Changaliyar the relatives and bride-groom had to face dreadful
event. This mystifying incident forced
her parents to drop marriage proposal for Changiliyar. Finally, the time has arrived in the life of
two devotees to unite each other. The
most compassionate Lord approached Changiliyar to get her permission to marry
Sundarar. Changiliyar put forwarded a
justifiable condition before the Lord that Sundarar should not leave her after
marriage. Lord attentively conveyed
Changiliyar’s condition to Sundarar. On
the other hand, Sundarar revealed his earnest desire to visit many sacred places
and sung praising the glories of Lord.
Finally, Thambiran Thozhan and Lord have arrived to a conclusion that
during the time of marriage vow Lord would take place under a Makizham tree
situated out of the temple. The
kind-hearted Lord felt pity on Chagiliyar and disclosed the secret arrangement
he had with Sundarar. On the day of
marriage Sundarar invited Changili Nachiyar inside the Sanctum sanctorum but she
tactfully took Sundarar under the Makizham tree in the presence of Lord and
performed the marriage rituals. Sundarar
resided in Thiruvotriyur for quite some time but his desire to re-visit his home
town grew irrepressible. He decided to
move out of Thiruvotriyur, when he crossed the border of this place, immediately
he lost his eye sight and struggled to move further. This incident reminded him about the promise
he had given to Changili Nachiyar and he became inconsolable. He continued his journey and moved through
Thirumullaivoyil to Thiruvenbakkam, he was totally miserable cried to Lord for
forgiveness. The kind hearted Lord
tossed a stick towards him and sent out assistance for Sundarar to follow
him. At Thirukacchi Ekambam Sundarar got
his left eye sight back again. On his
journey to Thiruvarur Sundarar visited many sacred shrines and sung praising the
glories of Lord. At Thiruvarur he got
back the right eye sight too.
Sundarar waveringly
approached his home town. Paravai
Nachiyar was already left the house with great disappointment after listening to
Sundarar’s remarriage. The entire
villagers worked hard to bring peace between them, but nothing worked well. Sundarar solemnly prayed to Lord to remove
the disagreement between them. Lord
Shiva with his Ganas walked through the street to pacify Paravai Nachiyar. At last, Paravai Nachiyar agreed to be with
Sundarar once again and regained their love for each other.
Sundarar
met Thiru Eyarkon Kalikkama Nayanar at the divine command of Lord and brought
his life back.
Life of
Thiru Eyarkon Kalikkama Nayanar:
Thiru
Cheraman Peruman Nayanar arrived at Thiruvarur with a great yearning to meet
Sundarar. The two devotees of Lord were
hugged each other with immense joy. This
marvelous association with Cherman Nayanar gave a new name ‘Cheraman Thozhar’ to
Sundarar. They together conducted spiritual to many
sacred temples of Lord. Sundarar along
with Paravai Nachiyar decided to leave to the Kingdom of Cheraman Nayanar at his
request. After worshipping Lord at Thiruvarur, Sundarar proceeded to the Kingdom of Cheraman
Nayanar. He was received with great honor at
Kodungallur. Sundarar stayed at this
place for quite some time, as usual his desire to be back in Thiruvarur urged
himself to separate from his closest associate Cheraman Nayanar. Sundarar consoled Cheraman Nayanar and left
Kodungallur with all the material goods affectionately provided by him. At Thirumuruganpoondi all the goods were
stolen by a gang of robbers. Sundarar
was distressed at this incident, visited the temple Thirumuruganpoondi and sang
authoritatively questioned Lord for his negligence. Lord was pleased at the devotion of Sundarar
and gave back all the materials stolen by the thieves.
After
worshipping Lord at Thiruvarur, Sundarar proceeded to Thiruppukoliyur. In this village Sundarar noticed one house
was filled with the air of bliss and the opposite house was mourning for the
death of a child. Sundarar enquired the
reason and found that the children from these houses were gone to have a bath in
the pond situated near the temple. One
child way caught by the crocodile and the other one was sparingly escaped from
the danger. The boy who was survived
from the hazard was undergoing Bhramopadesam.
After listening to the heart breaking incident, Sundarar rushed to the
pond and sang praising the glories of Lord Avinashiappar. Instantaneously, the crocodile spitted out
the child and the child walked towards to his parents just like nothing had
happened.
Sundarar arrived the
Kingdom of Cheraman Peruman Nayanar, once again he was received with great
admiration and respect. It was the most
relishing moment for both the devotees of Lord.
One day King Cheraman Peruman was immersed in the worship of Lord,
Sundarar and group of devotees arrived at the shrine in Thiruvanchikkulam. He passionately sung praising the glories of
Lord, instantly a sparkling light appeared in the sanctum. Sundarar rushed to the sanctum with all the
devotees, he solemnly prayed to Lord and revealed his desire to be in Mount
Kailash. Instatntly, Lord commanded his Ganas to send Airavatha to bring
Sundarar back to Mount Kailash. Sundarar
left his mortal body and proceeded to Mount Kailash on Airavatha. Upon hearing the departure of Sundarar, his
close associate Cherman hurried on his horse.
He chanted Panchakshara Manthra on the ears of the horse; it took off to
the sky and went along with Sundarar.
Cheraman Nayanar was not allowed to enter into Mount Kailash, Sundarar
earnestly prayed to Lord for Cheraman Nayanar.
Lord enquired the Cheraman Nayanar reason to follow Sundarar, he
earnestly replied that the pain of separation from Sundarar made him to follow
to Mount Kailash. In this way, Cheraman
Nayanar proved his Guru Bhakthi towards Sundarar, he was also allowed to remain
in Mount Kailash and engage in the service to Lord. Subsequently, Paravai Nachiyar and Changili
Nachiyar attained the Abode of Lord Shiva and regained their status.
Life of
Thiru Cheraman Peruman Nayanar :
Previous
Birth of Sundarar :
Alala
Sundara was a mirror image of Lord Shiva.
He was a prime servant of Lord Shiva in Mount Kailash. He was destined to obtain flowers for the
daily rituals of Lord. As usual Alala
Sundara left to collect flowers from the garden. There he found two gorgeous women Kamalini
and Anindhithi. Instantly, Sundarar got
attracted to their prettiness. He
engaged in conversing with them delightfully and completely forgot his purpose
of visiting the garden. Lord was
patiently waiting for Alala Sundara, got disturbed at his negligent act. Alala Sundara returned with guilt and shame,
Lord cursed him to take birth on the Earth along with the Kamalini and
Anindhithi. Therefore, Alala Sundara
was born on Earth as Sundaramurthy Nayanar along with Paravai Nachiyar and
Changili Nachiyar.
In the
Tamil month Adi – Swathi is widely celebrated as Guru Puja day of Thiru
Sundaramurthy Nayanar, the day he attained the Abode of Lord Shiva.
Jaya Jaya
Sankara Hara Hara Sankara !!
Jai Sriman
Narayana !!
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